EPT
+ Show Spoiler +
yeah, I know it's "sabre" instead of "saber;" means the same thing, in my mind, plus I wrote this before realizing my mistake and I'm too lazy to fix everything lol
Saturday was foil, followed by saber. Between not enough sleep, having to drive ~3 hours starting before 6:30, stress piling up as I’m the only one in the pool that can direct foil with more than a little general accuracy, hitting a rather unfortunately-placed roadblock/plateau in my skill with foil, and just not having a good day led me to deep frustration in the pools. Oh. Having one fencer’s blade break, another fencer’s blade stop working, and 2-3 body cords failing didn’t help things either.... ('¬_¬) Lol, I even got a “black card” (which I put in quotes to signify that this was a casual tournament so it didn’t really mean anything) for kicking my helmet afterwards. I was pretty pissed. X-D
Pres. magically beat his incredibly strong opponent in the finals. This guy... if he ever moved while he fenced, he’d be unbeatable, because his tip control and agility are incomparable to anyone else’s. Problem is he obstinately insists on staying flat-footed the entire match, so our Pres. merely flesched (sp? I don’t know French, lol) him a dozen times and the speed he earned training epee managed nab him tons of points. It was close, too; 15-14 in our Pres.’s favor at the end of the day.
Yesterday was epee, my better weapon, and heck it showed. I won almost all of my bouts in pool, got third place there, and fifth overall out of seventeen fencers. (indicator was 1 less than the guy ahead of me; fml...) First DE was easy. Guy was a foil at heart, and the switch to epee was too tough for him. Though I gotta give him credit: he did start to figure me out after the first encounter, and scored 11 on me before I hit 15.
Second guy in DE’s I had faced already in pools. Big dude, surprisingly agile, great tip control, and a smart fencer. Literally 10+ of my points were right under his arm, between his elbow and fingers, mostly his wrist.
Got really close near the end as we tied it 13-13, but I managed to grab the win with a close two points....And once again, I’m stuck in the semi-finals facing...my Pres. T_T
Seriously, whtf?!
I was surprised at how well I did against him. Near the end, I was even up 13-11, and the possibility that I could knock him out and secure either silver or (pff, wouldn’t have happened, lol) gold was very real. Then I choked for four points and he won 15-13, hahaha! Still, though, that’s the closest I’ve gotten to beating him. Ever.
Afterwards, he told me that something just “clicked” in his mind and he became a fencing god for the rest of the tournament. He beat our rival’s Pres. hands-down. Like, it wasn’t even close. ‘Least he got a good warm-up out of me.
We actually had a third place match this time because, once again, there was only one third place medal. Guy I faced was the same guy I very nearly lost to last tournament, 15-12. This time, however, I was bushed; 10+ minutes wasn’t enough to recuperate all the energy I had used trying to win against my Pres., and he had had much more time to rest before this bout. I simply could not maneuver quickly enough, and instead of being defensive (which is not my forte), I used what little stamina I had to attack half-heartedly. Ultimately, I lost 9-15.
Now for the awesome news.
Turned out that our schools had a tie in the standings to secure the “travelling trophy,” an actual sword that we as a team work to being rewarded with. Many, many favorable circumstances led us to this position, and this was absolutely our best chance to get it. The way it works is we each take our three best fencers, everyone faces everyone in bouts that go to five points apiece, and whichever team reaches 45 points, or whoever’s ahead when time runs out, is the winner.
Their Pres. was seemingly the most potent threat for us and we did not expect to do very well against him. However, their #3 guy, we imagined, could be beaten relatively easily. + Show Spoiler +
He calls me out on yelling to surprise and panic him, even though I've been doing this all tournament, in this same bout no less. m-( They were just scrambling for any advantage they could muster really, lol.
And now, we get a wicked-awesome sword to brag about! + Show Spoiler +
until the next tournament :-D
Question of the Blog: I’ve been thinking since the last tournament about something rather random: how well would the three weapons of fencing (epee, foil, and saber) match up with the three races of StarCraft? At least, the mirror match-ups? Saber is pretty obviously ZvZ in my mind, especially early-mid 2011 ZvZ; you rush at each other, there’s a lot of frantic flailing, someone lands a magic Baneling hit, and they automatically win the game, lol.
Initially, I thought epee would be PvP, as it involves a lot of waiting, posturing with massive armies, and it becomes a deathball-on-deathball scenario where one guy simply has too much of one thing and wins. However, I’ve determined that PvP would be best represented by foil, really good PvP anyways. There should be lots of poking and prodding, feints and sneak attacks, able to get a little wild from time to time, but always a chance to easily reset from a bad situation (a la off-target hits) and try again after recovering. The winner is then determined by not just raw, overpowering skill, but also by succeeding with mesmerizing mind games and speedy finesse with one's blade.
That leaves epee to TvT, and I admit that I like this comparison far better. Epee primarily comes down to positioning, keeping a safe distance from the enemy, but close enough to threaten at any given moment. “Siege lines” of sorts are set up and the competitors entrench themselves for the long haul. Lots and lots of waiting ensues. Great care is taken to ensure that one has enshrouded themselves in safety. Ground can be gained or lost, but at the end of the day, it comes down to that one hit (wherever it lands) and the point is over. A hit to the fingers counts as much as a hit to the back of the vest. However, it's not the same as the craziness of ZvZ/saber, as you have to utilize tact and discretion as you attack to make sure your attack lands
So finally, the actual question: for those who don’t fence, which weapon do you think you’d choose (regardless of differing equipment expenses)? For those who do fence, what do you think of my comparisons? :-3
Reference vids:
Sabre
Foil (Warning: the music gets awful at around 2:57.)
Epee (Grainy vid, but it gets the point across. ...Heh. ;-P)
